Keira Rumble on the benefits of having a ‘birth road map’ (not a plan!) and her hopes for a second baby
As Keira Rumble’s son Hunter rings in his first birthday, it’s given the founder of Krumbled Foods and Habitual Beauty a chance to reflect on what was one of the craziest periods of her life.
In July 2021, the entrepreneur planned to launch her skincare brand, Habitual Beauty, several weeks prior to her son’s due date. The only thing she didn’t factor in was her baby joining the party a whole five weeks early at 36 weeks gestation.
“I never in my wildest dreams would have prepared myself for an early baby. And then my waters broke and we didn’t have the car seat installed… no hospital bag packed,” she laughs in an exclusive interview with Kiindred.
“We had to race down to Sydney as we live on the Central Coast. It was a complete whirlwind and I had a business that I was meant to be launching. So I ended up doing hundreds of emails during birth.”
While her business launch was mapped out to the enth degree, the popular influencer decided not to have a birth plan – instead opting for a “birth road map”.
“One of my friends was very strong on articulating this to me because she ended up having an emergency C-section,” Keira explains of choosing a wish list of things she’d like to happen if the situation lent itself to it, such as delayed cord clamping and golden hour skin-to-skin contact. That way, there’d be no disappointment if things didn’t go as planned.
And sure enough, the arrival of Keira’s son followed its own unpredictable script with a “very light” epidural, which meant she could feel almost all of the pushing and a scary few days in NICU after he needed “lifesaving intervention.”
“He came out blue, and my OB, who was an absolutely incredible human, he’s like, ‘Alright, dad, time to cut the cord’. And I sort of looked at him and he just looked at me… So it was very clear that we needed to actually move quickly. And then he was whisked off to get oxygen and everything. It was very hard to process all of that,” she reflects.
She adds: “I got my golden hour once he came back from special care a few days later. Birth was incredible.”
After six miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy, Hunter was Keira’s much longed-for rainbow baby, conceived via IVF. As a business owner, Keira didn’t take maternity leave and instead worked from home as she watched Habitual Beauty grow all the while looking after her newborn son.
“I had to go straight back to work because I had a business to run. So we have an incredible nanny who came into the picture pretty quickly. She’s such a vital part of our family because she helps raise my son, she’s incredible and he loves her.”
“There was a lot of guilt that I had to get over with the fact that I wasn’t there all the time for him, but I’m creating his future by working,” the social media star confesses.
She notes the single biggest thing that helped her through this time was the delivery of food from her friends and family.
“I remember on the way home [from the hospital], we drove past a friend’s house and she had four days worth of meals for us to pick up on the way home!”
“I also had a postpartum doula who was incredible. Just having that ability to draw a bath and not worry about the baby really helped in my postpartum recovery,” she says.
The S word is another big topic for any new parent – from how much you’re getting (or lack thereof), to how many times you woke up the night before.
When it comes to coping with a broken night’s sleep, Keira’s approach is incredibly refreshing.
“I know that I’ll sleep eventually so it’s okay,” she muses.
“We’ve definitely never done any sleep training or anything like that. It’s always just been: ‘He needs me, I’ll be there.’ He wakes up from once to three times a night, depending if he’s teething or sick.”
As she celebrates Hunter’s first birthday, her business baby is also ringing in its first year.
“The feedback from customers has been amazing,” Keira says of Habitual Beauty, with the standout products from the line being the Advanced Skin + Gut Health Collagen Elixir and the Hydrating Skin Mask.
“You wear it as a night cream, and you wake up looking like you’ve had eight hours of uninterrupted sleep.”
Umm, yes please!
Never one to live life in the slow lane, the mother-of-one is already creating yet another exciting brand – this time in the parenting space.
“We have a new brand launching next year that is heavily focused towards the pregnancy fertility and infant space,” she teases of her next project.
This year, Keira is preparing to try and conceive a sibling for Hunter through IVF. It’s a path she’s walked before and says the best thing people can do to support someone going through fertility struggles is to simply just listen.
“I think the biggest thing that I found to be most helpful is just to have someone listen. If you’ve never experienced it, no matter what you try and say, you’ll probably say the wrong thing.”
“I think just say: ‘I’m so sorry, I don’t understand what you’re going through. But I’m here for you no matter what,’” Keira reveals.
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Bella Brennan Follow +
Bella is a writer and editor with over a decade of experience in women’s publishing and digital media. In her spare time, she loves making up dances to the Wiggles with her two little girls, swimming in the ocean and trying to sneak away from her family for a cheeky nap.
